Technical Field
This disclosure relates to a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet feeding device.
Related Art
Various types of electrophotographic image forming apparatus are known to include a sheet feeding device to feed a sheet one by one from a sheet container that accommodates multiple sheets therein to an image forming apparatus or to an image forming device.
For example, such a sheet feeding device includes a load applying member disposed between a sheet regulating member and a sheet conveying member in a sheet width direction of a sheet container. The load applying member is pressed against a surface of a sheet that functions as a recording medium to apply a predetermined load to the sheet.
When the sheet is conveyed, the load applying member applies a load such that a moment of rotation exerted by the sheet conveying member to the sheet and a moment of rotation exerted by the load applying member to the sheet are evenly balanced. According to this configuration, the skew of the sheet conveyed from the sheet container is reduced.
For example, conveying forces of the sheet conveying member become uneven affected by installation environment of the sheet conveying device and the image forming apparatus. At that time, the degree of the moment of rotation exerted by the sheet conveying member to the sheet changes. Consequently, the moment of rotation that is exerted by the sheet conveying member to be applied to the sheet and the moment of rotation that is exerted by the load member to be applied to the sheet may not be proportional, in other words, become imbalance. As a result, the skew of the sheet conveyed from the sheet container occurs.